330 



SEEDING AND PLANTING 



injury. When seedbeds are fully stocked with 1- or 2-year conifers 

 from 40,000 to 75,000 plants can be lifted with the spade or fork and 

 placed in buckets or baskets by 1 workman in a day of 8 hours. 

 Each crew of 2 men working under average conditions should lift 

 and transfer to the baskets or boxes from 20,000 to 40,000 conif- 

 erous transplants (2-1) in a day (Fig. 90). The number rapidly 

 decreases with the size of the stock, the compactness of the soil, 

 and the spacing. 



The same methods that are practiced in lifting seedlings from 

 wide-spaced rows are used in lifting transplants. One or 2 

 rows are removed at a time. Usually 2 men 

 work together, one handling the spade or fork and 

 the other lifting the plants from the loosened soil. 

 In the author's opinion the lifting fork (Fig. 91) 

 is better for lifting transplants than the ordinary 

 spade or spading fork. It is much easier to oper- 

 ate with the same expenditure of energy, can be 

 forced to a greater depth in the soil, and is 

 stronger and more durable. The handle is similar 

 to that of the ordinary short-handled spade ex- 

 cept that it is straight and stronger. The fork is 

 8 or 10 inches wide and 4- or 5-pronged. It is 

 made of tool steel, and the flattened, straight 

 prongs are from 8 to 16 inches long depending 

 upon the character of the stock lifted, particularly 

 its length of root. The fork is forced vertically 

 into the soil about 3 inches from the plants and 

 the handle brought backward. By this operation the prongs 

 arc moved forward and upward loosening the soil and lifting the 

 plants. 



Mayr l recommends the digging of a trench parallel with the 

 first row of trees and about 3 inches distant. The trench should 

 be as deep as the roots penetrate the soil. Ordinarily 2 men 

 constitute the lifting crew. One forces the spade into the soil 

 1 or 2 rows back from the trench and brings the soil with the 

 contained seedlings forward into the trench. At the same time 

 the second workman grasps the trees as they move forward and 

 lifts them from the soil. 



1 Mayr, Heinrich: Waldbau auf naturgesetzlicher Grundlage. S. 395. 

 Berlin, 1909. 



FIG. 91. The 



lifting fork. 



